Girls Names Beginning With H

Harper

English

"harp player"

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year. Victoria and David Beckham's choice of Harper for their…

Hazel

English

"the hazelnut tree"

Hazel has a pleasantly hazy, brownish-green-eyed, old-fashioned image that more and more parents are choosing to share. Former Old Lady name Hazel reentered the popularity lists in 1998 and now is…

Haven

Word name, English

"a place of safety"

Haven is a recently invented safe-harbor name that appeals to an increasing number of parents who don't want to voyage quite as far as Heaven. Haven Kimmel is the author of the bestselling memoir A…

Hattie

English, diminutive of Harriet

"estate ruler"

In the USA, Hattie is one of those nicknames that is now more popular than its parent name, Harriet. In England, however, Harriet is still by far more popular than Hattie, while in Australia, Harriet…

Heidi

Diminutive of Adelheid; German

"noble, nobility"

Heidi became known — and popular — via the 1880 eponymous children's classic by Swiss writer Johanna Spyri and, despite decades of American Heidis of all sizes, shapes, and personalities, the name…

Hope

Virtue name

Can a name as virtuous as Hope be cool and trendy? Strangely enough -- yes. But though this optimistic Puritan favorite is experiencing substantial popularity, Hope is too pure and elegant to be…

Helena

Latinate form of Helen, Greek

"torch; shining light"

Helena is one of those classic names that just misses making the US Top 1000 girl names for its entire history, falling off for a single year in 1992. Since then it's been drifting lazily up the…

Helen

Greek

"torch, shining light"

Helen is a name that has connoted beauty since ancient times – Helen of Troy was the the mythological "face that launched a thousand ships," over whom the ten-year Trojan War was fought. These days,…

Haisley

Modern invented name

Combine two parts Paisley with one part Hazel and one part Harley, add a dash of Hayes, and voila: Haisley.

Heaven

Word name

Among the children named Heaven are the daughters of TV personality Brooke Burke and rap singer Lil' Mo, who also has a daughter named God'iss Love. Some parents have taken to using Nevaeh…

Hana

Hebrew, Hawaiian, Maori, Japanese

"grace, work, glow, flower"

Many things to many peoples: a flower name, also spelled Hanae, to the Japanese; a Czech and Polish short form of Johana; and an alternate form of the biblical name Hannah in the US. It also means…

Hafsa

Arabic

"gathering; young lioness"

Concise but versatile, Hafsa is a popular name for girls among Muslims, that appears in the charts in the UK, France, Belgium, Turkey, and the Netherlands. It is a significant name in Islamic…

Hafsah

Arabic

"young lioness"

Concise but versatile, Hafsah is a popular name for girls among Muslims. Also spelled Hafsa, it is a significant name in Islamic tradition, having been borne by the daughter of Umar, the second…

Haidee

Literature, English

"modest, reverant"

While Haidee may sound like a variant of Heidi or Hailey, it's actually a separate name with a literary history. First appearing in Byron's epic poem Don Juan (1819), it was likely inspired by the…

Halcyon

Greek

"kingfisher bird"

This highly unusual name -- the Halycyone was a mythic bird who could calm the seas -- conjures up images of utter peace and tranquility because of the phrase "Halycon days"...and the sleeping pill.

Halie

Greek mythology name

"dweller in the sea"

Halie is the name of several figures in Greek mythology, most of them sea nymphs. The most prominent mythological Halie was the mother of Rhodos, who gave her name to the island Rhodes, and six sons…

Hallgerd

Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish

"stone enclosure, stone protection"

Halston

English

"hallowed stone"

Though long associated with the iconic male fashion designer -- who went by his middle name alone -- rising young actress Halston Sage has made Halston feel plausible as a girls' name too.

Hansika

Sinhalese, Hindi

"swan"

Swans are beautiful creatures, with rather unusable English names. To evoke the grace and serenity of the swan, we recommend you take a look at this Sri Lankan name.

Happy

English word name

"happy, joy"

Many virtue names have long been in style or have seen a resurgence in recent years. Happy, however joyous, seems unlikely to join this trend. This could be because it doesn't have a solid history of…